AXOLOTLS

A community of anthropomorphized axolotls play and work during the course of a day.

Alarm clocks go off, and in their underwater home, axolotls of various types begin their days. On each double-spread page, rhyming couplets and spot art (with some full-bleed spreads scattered in between) work together to capture the daily—and very humanlike—activities of the aquatic salamanders, all of whom have portmanteau names. Flexolotl begins the day by lifting weights; Paxolotl packs a school bag with books; Zodiaxolotl consults a horoscope chart, and so on. But life is not all drudge and routine in their watery realm. We see Tuxolotl, “dressed up to the gills” in a tuxedo for a fancy occasion, and DJ Maxxolotl spinning music tables in a club, while other axolotls are “packing out the concert halls / with salamander song.” At day’s end, Soaxolotl takes a bath, Booxolotl reads, and, finally, the entire community settles in “to catch some ZZZs.” The book’s title could mislead readers who expect an abecedarian narrative. Some of the portmanteaus may confuse children: “Spandexolotl” exercises, but young readers may not make the spandex-workout connection, and Waxolotl waxes its legs, a practice that many children will be unfamiliar with. The goofy, over-the-top artwork rendered in an obtrusively bright palette and the dull, overly singsong rhymes leave little to readers’ imaginations.

A story that, once read, readers may forgetolotl.